Spirit Ruin, Sword Coffin, Blind Swordsman

The situation Chan Kongzi had encountered had been going on for half a month. The number of ancient clans hidden throughout the Six Territories far exceeded what the outside world imagined, and most of them harbored rifts where Abyssal Demons were being suppressed.

Yet cases like this one, an entire clan massacred by Abyssal Demons, were rare. Which was exactly why Chan Kongzi was so furious.

Meanwhile, in the Daxia Territory, on the Soaring Heavens Continent, a woman in dark-red robes walked unhurriedly through the void above a mountain range that stretched alongside a river. Clear, crisp bells chimed with every step she took.

She was tall and slender, and with every step, it was as though drops of blood fell from beneath her feet. Her crimson robe was cinched at the waist with a plain sash. Her expression was cold, her eyes were long and narrow, and the pupils of her single-lidded eyes were a crystalline blood-red.

Her red irises were slightly smaller than an ordinary person’s, and as she gazed ahead, a faint crescent of white showed beneath each pupil. A small teardrop mole rested beneath the outer corner of her left eye.

Her entire bearing radiated cold detachment, warning others to keep their distance, as though everything beneath the heavens was beneath her notice.

Her black hair was casually pinned behind her head, and her left hand held a slender crimson saber. The saber was over four chi long, blood-red from hilt to tip, with a grip a full four hand-widths long. Around the lower half of the grip, where an ordinary two-handed hold would still leave a part of the hilt exposed, a dark-red silk thread was tied, ending in a purple-gold bell the size of an egg.

The bell gave off a faint golden gleam, its surface covered in countless intricate magical artifact inscriptions, complex enough to make even Xi Yunhuai feel numb.

This woman served under Su Xuan, just as Long Hou did. Her name was Hong Zhi, one of Su Xuan’s eight generals. Her strength was second only to Long Hou’s.

Buzz!The domain of an ancient sect that had been suppressing an Abyssal Demon suddenly shattered. The ten-zhang-tall demon tore its way free. The instant the domain ruptured, the void trembled violently for a hundred li in every direction, and a pressure comparable to that of a territory lord erupted outward.

The moment that aura appeared, the Daxia Territory Lord, Zhou Yunqing, reeled with shock. This surge of demonic intent had already reached the level of a Mahayana Stage cultivator.

Lately, fighting had erupted ceaselessly across the Daxia Territory, and not only from the conflicts that had come with the ancient clans’ return to the world. Even more alarming, numerous clans and sects had vanished without a trace, slaughtered down to the last person.

Zhou Yunqing could not hide the exhaustion deep in his eyes, even with his sharp features. He forced up a surge of energy, shot into the sky, and tore open the domain barrier. He raised a hand, and from deep within the mountain, an ancient sword came streaking out, gleaming with golden light. The mountain peak trembled as the longsword flew into his hand.

Many people looked up in astonishment and murmured, “Territory Lord Zhou Yunqing... has drawn his sword!”

“What on earth has happened to make him unseal the Cicada Sword ahead of time?!”

Many of the older members within the domain fell silent. They could sense something in Zhou Yunqing they had never felt before. A deep, resolute willingness to die. That strange pressure was something they themselves could only dimly perceive.

Zhou Yunqing stepped forward and vanished into the domain.

***

The Abyssal Demon stood in the pitch-black void. Its massive frame was roughly human-shaped, shrouded head to toe in sinister demonic qi. The violent aura whipping off its body sent Hong Zhi’s robes fluttering wildly.

The towering Abyssal Demon’s crimson eyes locked onto the human woman before it, filled with nothing but ravenous bloodlust. The sheer size difference between them was enough to make anyone fear for Hong Zhi.

This Abyssal Demon had not only consumed an entire sect led by a Combined Body Realm cultivator, but it had also devoured several beings with strength comparable to Combined Body Realm Abyssal Demons.

Ssss! Roar!

The demon unleashed its aura without restraint, its sentience indistinguishable from that of an ordinary person. Demonic qi filled the sky, swallowing nearly the entire hundred-li stretch of void.

Then wariness flickered in its eyes. Its right hand closed into a loose fist, and boundless demonic qi gathered there, condensing into a colossal demonic spear. The demon moved with blinding speed, gripping the spear and thrusting it savagely at Hong Zhi. That single strike shook heaven and earth, tearing the void across ten li into countless enormous, twisting rifts.

From start to finish, Hong Zhi’s expression stayed perfectly composed, her eyelids lowered slightly, as though the demon were not an opponent worth her attention.

The terrifying demonic spear, its tip larger than her skull, bore down on her. That crushing pressure nearly compressed the void around Hong Zhi into a solid mass.

When the spear tip was a mere three cun from her head, Hong Zhi’s left hand ripped her saber from its scabbard. The sharp scrape of blade against sheath rang out.

Boom!

A streak of crimson saber light slashed upward in a fierce sweeping arc.

The entire void fell utterly silent, as though all things had ceased to exist. In all of heaven and earth, there was only that single flash of crimson saber light rising upward. Every last shred of force stayed sealed within the ten-zhang saber arc, not a sliver of it leaking out.

Then it was gone.

The instant the saber left its scabbard, a crimson hologram appeared behind Hong Zhi, its arms spread wide, mirroring her movement.

Had Li Guanqi witnessed this, he would have been struck speechless. The power Hong Zhi had just displayed was the very intent domain he had dreamed of reaching. She had reached the Saber Soul Realm.

Boom!

The ten-zhang-tall Abyssal Demon went rigid where it stood. The spear tip covered in demonic qi froze in midair.

Hong Zhi’s expression stayed indifferent as she slowly turned. With a flip of her slender wrist, she slid the saber back into its scabbard. The motion’s momentum swept the red silk thread at the hilt upward, and as the bell fell back, it gave a clear, crisp chime.

Ding!

The Abyssal Demon split cleanly in two. The bell at her saber’s hilt rang on, bright and clear, and the boundless demonic qi spiraled into an enormous vortex centered on the bell. Within a few breaths, it had drawn in more than half the demonic qi that had blanketed a hundred li.

When Zhou Yunqing arrived in the void with the Cicada Sword in hand, he found Hong Zhi standing motionless. He swallowed hard, his throat bobbing, not daring to let his gaze rise above her feet.

He clasped his fists and bowed deeply. “Junior Zhou Yunqing, Daxia Territory Lord, greets Senior Hong Zhi, the Golden Bell Saber Sovereign!”

A cold sweat broke out on Zhou Yunqing’s forehead as he recalled an old saying: “When the golden bell rings, heads roll.”

Hong Zhi had lived for at least ten thousand years. In her era, she had stood as the foremost female blade wielder across the Six Territories, the strongest of all women saber cultivators. Judging from her aura alone, she had likely reached the peak of the Mahayana Stage long ago.

Hong Zhi looked at Zhou Yunqing with an indifferent gaze. Her voice, cold and clear, was like a solitary snow lotus blooming atop a high peak. “The Daxia Territory... is somewhat disappointing.”

Those few words were enough to drench Zhou Yunqing’s back in cold sweat. He stayed bent at the waist, not daring to raise his head.

Hong Zhi said nothing further. She cast a faint glance toward the depths of the void, where a dark-robed person, their aura no weaker than her own, slowly faded from sight. Their eerie blood-red mask made her brow furrow faintly.

She pulled out her jade pendant and said in a low voice, “I think I just spotted a Wang-tier member of the Sha organization.”

The Wang tier was the highest within the Sha organization.

Still grinding an Abyssal Demon’s skull to dust, Chan Kongzi hurriedly said, “Are you serious?! Second Sister, don’t do anything rash! Tsk, Second Sister, you’re not thinking of going all out, are you? Second Sister, don’t... How about letting Brother Long handle it instead?”

In the Black Sect Territory, Long Hou frowned. He pulled his spear free from a stone door and said solemnly, “Hong Zhi, be careful. Just probe the enemy for now.”